The following recipes are some of my favorites! I get to use the bounty from my garden and each of these dishes takes very little time to prepare and serve!
Ifyou have a recipe using fresh garden veggies (hopefully some of mine that you've grown yourself!) and you'd like to share, please email it to me and I'll post here. Enjoy!

Hinkelhatz Pepper Sauce

1 pound hinkelhatz peppers, tops cut off

1/2 cups cider vinegar (5 percent)

1 teaspoon fine salt

Grind the ingredients together in a blender or food processor until the peppers appear minced (not puréed). In a saucepan, simmer the mixture for 10 minutes. Press it through the fine screen of a food mill. Funnel the sauce into a bottle, and store it in the refrigerator.

Makes about 1 pint

The sauce turned out a beautiful vermilion and, as expected, quite hot. It seems strange that Pennsylvania Dutch folks, with their sugar- and vinegar-rich but otherwise bland cookery, would favor hot sauce of any kind, much less this kind. According to Slow Food, the Mennonites who grow hinkelhatz peppers sprinkle pepper vinegar on their sauerkraut. I wish someone could tell the story of how this pepper arrived in Pennsylvania, presumably—though probably not directly—from Mexico, and how it came to be treasured and passed on through generations in a community of Mennonite farmers.

*** note from Lisa - please click on the link in the description for the detailed info from an article in "Mother Earth News " about heirloom peppers, on the Hinkelhatz peppers from food historian William Woys Weaver

I thank those farmers for passing the hinkelhatz on to the rest of the world.

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Oh, I thought I told you that a Hinkelhatz is about half the Scovilles of a habanero? I made some “Hatz Sauce” last year using on of your tomato-based pepper/vinegar recipes (also lime juice), DH (who is Texan) said it wasn’t as hot as the commercial bottled pepper sauces so I’m still working on the recipe. They are very good substituted for habaneros in the Ball Habanero Gold recipe (I call my version Amish Gold – technically incorrect but I think it sounds better than Mennonite Gold LOL!).

Pepper Wine

Eight yellow and eight red peppers cut in small pieces or sliced and put in a glass bottle or jar. Pour half a pint of sherry on this, and put it in the sun for twelve hours. It is then fit for use. If you can get cherry peppers, the green and red mixed look very pretty together: some people prefer the tiny bird peppers which are commonly to be had. A little pepper wine is a very great addition to soups or made dishes.

Hungarian Letcho

A rich sweet Pepper stew. Very warming on a cold day. It comes from Hungary and is a typical peasant meal.

Directions:
1. In a large frying pan, saute the onions& garlic in olive oil, until limp, approx 2 minutes.
2. Add sliced sausage& chilli and cook, mixing with onions& garlic for approx 5 minutes.
3. Add bell peppers and mix well with onions, garlic& sausages.
4. Add salt and pepper, to taste.
5. Turn heat down and add Tomatoes.
6. Let simmer until the peppers are soft.
7. Keep simmering for a further 2 minutes and serve with rice or mashed potatoes.

EASY ROASTED TOMATO SAUCE

This is so easy and perfect for the end of the season when you have more tomatoes that you know what to do with. I'm not big on canning, so this is the way I preserve the bounty of my harvest the easy way! It's very fast and much easier to make than it sounds.

2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar (this sounds strange but its important
for full flavor)

1/4 teaspoon sugar (you may skip if using sweet type tomatoes)

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Combine all dressing ingredients. Using a large baking or roasting pan: layer onions and tomatoes drizzling the dressing over each layer. Keep layering. Put the cheese and breadcrumbs on top layer. Bake one hour. If it gets juicy, you may spoon off the extra liquid. I like to keep it all in for more flavor.

I let the pan cool and just spoon out servings in zipper freezer bags and freeze.
That's it! Use over pasta or any recipe calling for tomato sauce. The
sweet, rich flavor of the Heirloom tomatoes really comes out when baked.

EGGPLANT DIP

Scoop the pulp from one large cooked eggplant (roasted). Puree in a blender or food processor with garlic, lemon juice, dark oriental sesame oil and salt, stir in fresh parsley. Serve with pita wedges.

Preheat grill. Drizzle oil on both sides of the bread, and rub with garlic.
Place on grill until golden brown on the the first side. Turn over and plant all the other ingredients on it. Grill until cheese is melted.

GREEN PEAS FRENCH STYLE

Good for slightly large, or starchy old peas from the garden, that are past perfection.

3 cups shelled English Peas

1 medium head Boston or similar butterhead lettuce

1/2 teaspoon salt

1-2 Tablespoons sugar

4 Tablespoons minced scallions

4 Tablespoons softened butter

Place in a heavy bottomed pan and barely cover with cold water. Simmer over moderate heat for 20 minutes.**Alternately -you may take the heart from a head of lettuce and place the peas inside with a dash of pepper and sugar, tieing up the leaves and steaming in a small quantity of water for about 20 mnutes. Serve with melted butter and/or cream.

EASY ITALIAN STUFFED PEPPERS

Preheat oven to 375F degrees.

3 red ripe sweet bell peppers

Stuffing:

1-1/2 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1-1/2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1-2 cloves garlic minced

3/4 to 1 lb fresh heirloom tomatoes cut in large cubes

1 cup fresh mozzarella cheese in cubes

1/2 cup fresh basil chopped

Cut the peppers in half and seed them, and remove the whitish ribs. You may cut a slim slice off the bottom so they stand up better.

Shake up the oil, vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper. Add the tomato cubes and cheese and basil. Fill up each pepper half with the mixture and bake about 40 minutes until tender.

Cover. Let them sit in sun in jars for at least 10 days to 2 weeks. Open lid, pour in more vinegar, seal them and put away. They don't need to be boiled or "canned".

MABEL KULP'S (95 years old) CHOW CHOW VEGGIES

(she was the head cook at Sasonsmanville PA, for 50 years)

(oh my, but you can decrease this recipe for your own use)

20-30 gallons water

10lbs sugar

1 gallon vinegar

Put in whatever veggies you want; cauliflower, carrots, snap beans, onions and so forth. Mix and boil. Can it the way you would any vegetable.
Makes 600-800 quarts

CHOW CHOW

Here’s an authentic reicpe I found in the old copy of Pennsylvania
Dutch Cookbook, 1966 from the Culinary Arts Press, Reading PA:

2 quarts green beans

1 large head cauliflower- sparated into flowerets

3 cups shelled fresh lima beans

3 cups fresh whole kernel corn

1 qt onions chopped

5 green peppers chopped

2 qts green tomatoes chopped

3 qts cider vinegar

4 cups sugar

1/2 cup salt

2 TBsp celery seeds

2 TBsp yellow mustard seeds

2 TBsp dry mustard

1 TBsp turmeric

Cut the beans in half, then in peices. Cook beans, cauliflower florets, limas
and corn in boiling water until tender. Drain. Mix the onions, tomatoes, and peppers in the with the cooked vegetables in a very large heavy kettle. Bring the vinegar to boiling and stir in the sugar and spices. Pour vinegar mixture over vegetables. Bring to a boil and cook for 20-25 minutes or until thoroughly heated, stirring occasionally. Pour into sterilized jars and seal.
Makes about 12 pints.

Ground Cherry Pie

SUBMITTED BY: Janice
"Ground cherries, also known as husk tomatoes, produce tiny tomato-like fruits in papery husks on low, lanky bushes. This is an old Mennonite recipe with a crumb topping."

2 large balls fresh mozzarella (if you can find it or whole milk commercial brand Mozzarella)

good virgin olive oil

good balsamic vinegar

1 loaf thick Italian bread

2 cloves garlic

sea salt

Preheat oven to broil.
Slice bread into 1 inch thick slices, drizzle with olive oil on both sides.
Slice tomatoes and cheese into 1/3 inch rounds.
On cookie sheet, arrange in single layer, put in oven.

Chop basil and peel garlic.
After broiling bread for about 8 min. flip over. Remove bread when toasted dark on one side. Rub garlic along toasted bread.
Broil again for another 4 minutes. Arrange slices of tomato and cheese on each slice of bread, sprinkle with basil and drizzle vinegar. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Serve warm.

Hollow out rest of interior of tomatoes.
Cook in skillet onion, hot pepper and sweet pepper.
Cook covered over low heat about 10-15 minutes.
Add rice and bacon, and season to taste.
Stuff this mix into tomatoes, sprinkle with bread crumbs and cheese. Put in casserole with 1/4 cup water to keep it from sticking.
Cook in 425 degree oven for 15-20 minutes until tender.

FRESH HEIRLOOM TOMATO SALSA

from Elaine Milhimes, New Oxford PA

4 cups chopped heirloom tomatoes ( your choice)

1/4 onion finely chopped

1-4 hot chile peppers ( your choice) seeded and finely chopped

1 teaspoon seasoned salt

1-3 garlic cloves minced

Let mixture sit for one hour at room temperature, serve at room temperature.
Store in refrigerator.

SAVORY SUMMER TOMATO PIE

by Connie Shuff, York PA

1 pie crust - 9 inches

6 cooking type or paste, meaty type tomatoes

1/2 cup fresh basil chopped fine

12 cup onion chopped

1/4 cup sweet red, yellow or orange pepper-chopped

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar (optional)

3/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs

1/4 cup parmesan cheeze shredded

1/2 cup bacon crumbled

1 cup mozzarella cheese shredded

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Bake pie crust. Reduce heat to 400 degrees.
Mmix tomatoes, basil, onions, peppers, vinegar, oil, sugar and salt.
Allow to stand for 15 min.
Add bread crumbs, cheese and bacon.
Put half the mixture into the pie crust. Layer with mozzarella cheese, then
the remainder of mixture. Cover with foil and bake at 400 degrees
for 25 to 30 min.
Take off foil and sprinkle with 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese.
Bake uncovered for 4 min. until cheese melts. Take from oven and serve,
garnish with parsley and carrot curls.